Monthly Archives: September 2011

As a coach I often asked my clients and students this question, “What will you do if you had only 6 months to live”?

This powerful question inevitably generates different answers such as:

”I’ll just stay close to my family till the last day” ”I’ll do the things that I’ve always wanted to but had never done so till now”.

This hypothetical question besides raising empathetic feelings within us is really for this purpose: to help us to evaluate what we should be doing to get our priorities right. It is fortunate that for many of us, we have not been put on our ‘death beds’ to figure out what we should be doing with our lives.

Arriving in Phuket with my family, VIjaya & Anki

Let me share with you an actual experience when I have had the opportunity to journey with a very good childhood friend of almost 45 years, Vijaya Kumar. He was actually given a short notice to live two years ago. What I mean is this: Vijaya needed a liver transplant badly and it was not easy to get one. He was among the 2,000 patients waiting for a suitable donor and besides that, it must be from the same body mass and the recipient must be totally free from illness at the time when they are selected for the transplant.

Relaxing at sea enroute to Phi Phi Island, near Phuket

In a country like Sweden where he lives, to get your turn for a liver would probably be very remote because not only is the population small, but also life expectancy is long. Due to this, each waiting day for the last 2 years was agonizing as his health was fast deteriorating, memory was fading and all in all he became literally a ‘living zombie’.

To cut a long story short, let’s say God gave him the second chance to live. He did beat all odds, got the liver he wanted so badly, and is living again! I guess God knew he wanted to live again for he is very positive despite what seemed then to be a losing battle! His soul mate, Anki, was equally positive too. That gave him the much needed ‘ammunition’ to fight the battle of his life.

Can you imagine what this feeling is like, to get back your life?

Sharing a meal together

Now he is living again! He is back in Malaysia with his dear partner, Anki, to celebrate and enjoy the time of his life. Indeed he is on ‘borrowed time’. He dearly treasures every moment of his life. Everything is good. Everything is being appreciated. He is thankful for everything. I could see this in every of his expressions and the way he is enjoying his life now.

Right now, I am not on borrowed time, and so are many of you. So do we appreciate and care for ourselves and dear ones as if we only have 6 months to live? Or shall we live in the present? Or do we wait till something happens like in Vijaya’s case, living on borrowed time, with hope in God and answered prayers?